LILLINGTON - Central Carolina Community College and Western Harnett High School are celebrating a close relationship benefiting the students who graduate from the school.

Administrators from the college visited the high school June 13 to present the college's first President's Cup to the school's principal and guidance counselors. The cup, a new award, will be presented annually to the high school with the highest percentage of graduates who continue their education at 推荐正规买球平台.

Of Western Harnett's 242 graduates in 2010, 46 - 19 percent - enrolled at 推荐正规买球平台. That is the highest percentage of all the high schools in the college's service area of Chatham, Harnett and Lee counties. Other high schools with double-digit 推荐正规买球平台 enrollments from the Class of 2010 were: Southern Lee, 17 percent; Lee County, 16 percent; Northwood, 14 percent; and Chatham Central, 13 percent.

"At Western Harnett, we want to provide our kids with as many options as we can," said Principal William Wright Jr. "推荐正规买球平台 offers our graduates a diversity of opportunities. Some are interested in the trades and computer-based programs; many go into the college transfer program. 推荐正规买球平台 gives our kids options."

WHHS counselor Shannon Bradley said that the counselors encourage their students to look at 推荐正规买球平台 because the college has a lot to offer. Bradley knows from experience. She earned her associate's degree in university transfer at 推荐正规买球平台 in 1993, then transferred to Campbell University, where she earned her bachelor's and master's degrees.

"推荐正规买球平台 offers an affordable alternative to starting at a four-year institution," she said. "Some students are not academically confident. Going to 推荐正规买球平台 gives them a good foundation and the confidence to go on."

Counselor Reginald Lowery added that some of the high school's brightest students, who could go directly to a university, choose to go to 推荐正规买球平台.

"It's nearby, affordable, and gives them opportunities to explore their options," he said.

The idea for a President's Cup came out of the college's Information and Planning Conference committee as a way to recognize the high school that sends the highest percentage of its students to 推荐正规买球平台 each year. The Cup will be held by the winning school for a year and then presented to the next year's winner at the college's annual IPC.

That conference, held annually in November, introduces high school principals, counselors, career-technical education coordinators and career development coordinators to what the college offers their graduates.

"The students at the high schools in our service area become our students," said Bobby Wicker, 推荐正规买球平台 director of recruitment. "This is one way we hope to encourage the schools to send us more."

Making the presentation of the President's Cup were 推荐正规买球平台 administrators Vice President for Academic Affairs Lisa Chapman, Harnett Provost Bill Tyson, and Dean of Vocational and Technical Programs Stephen Athans. Receiving it were WHHS Principal William Wright Jr., and counselors Shannon Bradley, Reginald Lowery, and Cynthia Wood.

The President's Cup is a handsome multicolored ceramic bowl, about 12 inches in diameter, created by Joyce Bryan, ceramics instructor in the college's Professional Arts and Crafts: Sculpture program. Bryan is also a professional potter with her own business, Stone Crow Pottery, in Pittsboro.

For more information about programs at Central Carolina Community College, visit its Web site, z8il.thebetterlife.net.